Reviewed by Baby Butter

Jerry Leger is well known in the east end of Toronto and when he recorded his latest CD- Donlands, (A well known street in the east end of Toronto), he used an old henhouse that was a movie theatre back in the day. It is now known as Pie in the Sky Studios.

Donlands is a recording that seemed to be filled with quiet and unresolved emotions. The songs come off as pensive, introspective and somber.

This isn’t an album for roosters; it has uncomfortable sleeper quality about it. It is an album that you must play several times before the shrouded emotions begin to take shape and melt within experiences.

Songs like “Sort me out”, is lonely and pensive with a ruminating quality that you play over and over in your mind. In fact a lot of Jerry’s material will do that to you. It can leave you feeling haunted and lingering searching for an answer.

His reflections on relationship come from a place of mistrust and reserved desperation. You can feel these moments in songs like, “I was right to doubt her”, and “I’ll Stay”. You can really feel it in the last song, “The night in Nowhere Town”.

Don’t worry, this isn’t an all doom and gloom album, it has warm and fuzzy bits to it as, you cuddle up to his song, “Three hours after midnight”.

It seems most of his material deals with inner struggles from everyday people who constantly face challenges and are strong enough to keep moving. You can hear those struggles with songs like, “Wounded Wing”, and “Out there like the rain”.

Once the album seeps into your psyche and you can begin to relate to his characters, you begin to realize how proficient a songwriter Jerry really is.

This album reminds me of Humpty Dumpty after the fall, where an egg lay open and vulnerable. It is a process to heal and to be put back together. This can be an album that people need to mend and repair themselves back into a beautiful space. So I give this album a very warm sunny side up!